AN ALCOHOLIC called the police to hand himself in after pouring cooking oil over his wife and trying to force her head-first into an oven.

Paul Beaton, 44, had been drinking with his wife Annette in the living room of their home at Heron Place, Northgate Avenue, when the incident occurred about 5.30pm on March 13.

The couple, who both struggle with alcoholism, had been drinking wine and vodka when an argument broke out.

Prosecuting, Laurence Bestow described how Beaton had asked his wife to make his dinner and she had replied 'why don't you make it yourself ?'.

Mr Bestow said: 'He then jumped out of his seat and threw pasta at his wife, before throwing a wine bottle at the coffee table, smashing it across the living room floor in the process.'

Beaton, who earlier drank his pet cat's painkillers to relieve a bad back, went on to grab Mrs Beaton by the neck as she screamed for him to get off.

Holding on to her neck, he dragged the still screaming Mrs Beaton into the kitchen and grabbed a large bottle of sunflower oil from a nearby shelf and poured it over her hair and face.

Mr Bestow said: 'He then turned the electric oven on, which takes approximately five minutes to heat up, opened the door and tried to force his wife's head inside.'

Once things had calmed down Mrs Beaton suggested they try to resolve things. He responded by picking up the telephone, calling the police and telling them 'I've just tried to kill my wife' and requested someone come to the house to arrest him.

Mrs Beaton told officers she didn't want to pursue a complaint.

Beaton told police officers he had been so drunk he couldn't clearly recall what had happened but did remember his wife waking him up earlier that afternoon by pouring a bottle of wine over his head.

Defending, Gina Whittle-stone said the attack on his wife had been a 'wake up call' to Beaton who was shocked by his own behaviour and showed immediate remorse.

She said: 'My client has been drinking since his was 14 years old. Faced with his own behaviour he is now determined not to waste the next 20 years.'

Beaton, who admitted a charge of assault by beating, was ordered to stay at an alternative address for two months and complete an anti-alcohol programme over 24 months.